“The beep test” is probably a familiar and horror-inducing term to anyone who’s taken a gym class at some point in the last few decades. For those unfamiliar: The whole class lines up against a wall and runs 20 meters in the time between two beeps sounding. The beeps get closer and closer together until you’re frantically running back and forward, fearing that you may collapse at any minute. This mental image is appropriate to accompany Irish band God Alone.’s third album, The Beep Test. That’s not necessarily because of the speed or intensity of the music — although there’s plenty of that in places — but rather how relentlessly it throws a listener into new and unexpected vibes with no chance for a breather.
The record starts in a fairly conventional, if…

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…instantly scorching and compelling, place; the opening track “The Beep Test” is a largely instrumental mathcore stormer, recalling the Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge in its dynamic shifts and tense, dissonant guitars. It isn’t until almost two minutes into the second track, “Sir Laplage,” that you realize what kind of album this is going to be. A long intro has built to foreboding toms and rung-out chords which suggest something heavy is coming; instead, the band pivot hard to a funk-rock beat and melodic, falsetto vocals. This is the point at which half of the audience will ask, “What the hell is this?” in disgust, and the other half will ask it in awe.

From this point on, you’re never comfortable for too long. As if to make a point of it after the poppiness of “Sir Laplage,” “Tony Gawk” is the heaviest track on the album with its panic chords, blast beats, and guttural vocals; then there’s “Pink Himalayan,” with another funky rhythm section and James Murphy-esque hammy singing. “Hold Tight” starts as a ballad and ends with a heavy screamed part; the intense prog-metal instrumental “Bluesine” is followed by glitchy electronics on “Rinser,” and dancey synths are combined with howled vocals on “Rubber Hands.” The hyperactivity is a lot of fun, and it’s all anchored by the fact that genuinely formidable heavy parts are never far away.

Lyrically, the album is underpinned by a sense of dark absurdism. “I’m sitting all alone/ Watch me die,” vocalist Jake O’Driscoll sings on “Pink Himalayan,” but it’s a statement juxtaposed with the danceable instrumental; “We’re going out tonight, it’s party time,” he sings later. On the unsettling “Rubber Hands,” he repeats, “Look at my hands” and “Stop looking at me” through most of the song’s runtime, apart from the brief interlude to spit: “I’m a country girl, but I don’t fuck like one!” “Tony Gawk” has talk of demonic possession and “writhing and screaming,” although it’s really about being sick from drinking (“gawk” is a niche Cork slang word for puke, by the way). As on all of the album, light-heartedness and urgent seriousness strike a queasy balance; God Alone. make both feel convincing. — daily.bandcamp.com

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